/sig/ sticky
Introduction How have you improved yourself this week/month/year? Lifting isn't life, a well-balanced human being is productive, has hobbies, pushes him/herself to succeed, is charismatic, and strives to live the best life they can. Share your successes, failures, methods, and everything in between. Basic Recommendations: * Have a productivity Framework that is flexible. A mindset that gets you going. * Use a calendar, like google calendar. Hours and shit for things YOU WILL DO. *Learn to focus. *Meditate. *Do routines for things you should do periodically/daily, this should cover daily things or weekly chores such as laundry, cleaning, shopping. *Identify and Eliminate conflicts within yourself. *Focus on identifying the time wasters in your life and eliminate them. *Focus on the essentials. If you try to do everything at once you’ll burnout. Little by little. Resources: *https://web.archive.org/web/20161029073323/http://www.arcitea.com:80/ - Good all around for self development (Original site died) *www.bakadesuyo.com/blog/ - Good blog for self development *www.habitrpg.com - Great tool for self devlopement, see the chapter on it Framework * http://youtu.be/b-a1jXgAsQI *http://youtu.be/3Ao7rZ8-HWo *http://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY Motivation *http://youtu.be/ZtMm0swu5i8 *http://youtu.be/WxOFvpplvAM *http://youtu.be/ix4xSzkqwhk Readings and Presentations Material reading can be tricky. There will be trash here and there as we're not /lit/. But we have to trust others. Image related has a detailed list that an Anon provided on a thread a while back. If you got time to kill, click on the image, and read the descriptions As time goes, the /SIG/ has had a couple of books recommended. I’ve done my best to try to get talks of the authors of such books so you can get a ‘piece’ before you commit. Google a bit about the book, if you think you can get something out of it, watch the talk. In my opinion, try getting the books “for free”.If you read it and get something out of it, consider paying for the book. Reading pastebin and resources *The pastebin *More free books *50,000 Free ebooks *The Return Of The Well Cultured Anonymous - Old /b/ guide on how to get your life together. Presentions *Michael Mauboussin, "The Success Equation" **Youtube *Susan Cain, Quiet: The power of Introverts **Youtube, part 1/2 **Youtube, part 2/2 *The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge **Vimeo *Antifragile, Nassim Taleb **Youtube *One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, Robert Maurer **Youtube, part 1/2 **Youtube, part 2/2 Taking control of your life You should at least have 3 hobbies/activities. * One that will pay the bills, gets food on your table *One that will keep you in shape. (lower you faggot) *One that you're passionate about and might be able to develop into a career. Freedom is having control of your life If you're into lifting, taking the tips to better yourself should be simple; as you already have built some self-discipline. Make peace with yourself and the way things are right now. Stop thinking the world owes you, how destiny ‘fucked you over’, how those guys have it easier. Accept things as they are, realize that life is cruel and your circumstances are the ones you were given. You can’t do shit about the starting point, but you can move forward. Don’t focus in what was given to you, focus in what you’ll achieve. Eliminate the things you dislike about yourself, about your life. Is as simple as, do you enjoy your job? No? Take steps to change the feeling. How are you gonna make that? You either make your job more enjoyable, or you change jobs. Simple. You want a girl? how do you plan to achieve that? Are you too socially inept? Work on that. Are you piss poor and can’t afford a decent living? Work on that too. No matter who you are, where you are in your life, or how fucked up you think you are. You can improve your life. Take control. Move forward. Dreams keeps us alive, fighting for them makes us feel alive. About 5-7 years ago, I was a fucking train-wreck. Right now, I'm doing fairly well. Get some discipline, set some goals and a way to achieve them. Cultivate yourself, learn stuff, get your shit together. And realize, understand. No one is coming to save you. You got to make your way through. You NEED to take CONTROL. Education If you're still in School. For fuck sake pay attention. MORE than half of actually doing good in school is attending, the other half is paying attention in class. So then do it. Or stop it altogether. If you’re in college and you’re not feeling it, take a semester to think things through. If you’re in high school, don’t think YOU NEED to enter college to be successful. There are other ways… Google just started hiring people who never went to college. WATCH this talk: http://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY Most people have never actually learned how to learn. This course will help you with understanding how to learn most efficiently, how to tackle procrastination and will give you the mindset to learn enjoyably your whole life: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn/ Some learning resources, focusing in code: *duolingo.com - First and foremost. Free language learning tool with a really robust app. THIS IS A MUST. Learning a new language will help you out no matter who you are. *https://www.sololearn.com - Teaches you the basics, from the ground up. Best for total beginners. *codeschool.com/ - Similar to codeacademy. *youtube.com/user/thenewboston - Personal favorite. This guy step by step, learns a shit-ton of programming languages. Give this a check and start watching something you’re interested in. *codeeval.com - This one I really like, once you get your shit going, it puts you ‘objectives’ to solve through code, last batch are really complex. *coursera.org - It’s a really nice online-course platform. There are really good things here as well. *openprocessing.org processing.org codepen.io -These sites display some really cool stuff, where you can also check the source code and modify it to see what happens. As for career options. Choose anything you want, If you want to go into Philosophy or Social studies, That's fucking great. As long as you’re passionate about it, you’ll find a way. You can always become a teacher or a writer. BUT BE FUCKING AWARE THAT YOU WILL HAVE A HARD TIME MAKING MONEY. Don't get a loan to study shit that will be expensive to repay. Other than that, don't enter into something soulless just because 'I'll get money'. You only got one fucking life, don’t waste it doing something you hate Habitrpg You must have a to-do list, it's pretty essential. As for which, there are several options Google Keep, Evernote or whatever suits you. But currently I suggest you use: https://habitica.com There’s even a /fit/ guild created to keep us in check. /fit/ Guild It’s certainly geeky as fuck. But Gamification has been proven to work when applied to certain aspects of human psyche. Helps you stay in check and keeping your eyes on the trophy. Stupid trivial things I used to do, I stopped once I placed them as ‘Bad habits’. It also has a mobile app, while it’s a bit limited and on construction, it is free. There are three main categories. Habits. These are things you do by impulse, not under a schedule. Can be good or bad. *+Go for a jog *+Sleep early/on time Sun-Thu *+Walk the dog *+Go for a ride *+Cook something new *+Go out and socialize *+Spend time at the shelter *-Smoke *-Drink soda *-Drink beers *-Eat Junk/Dirty bulk *-Stay up late Sun-Thu *-Fap ? *-Play 1.5+ Hours vidya a day *-Shitpost Dailies are things you ALWAYS do. Every day or certain days of the week. Planned, they are only good. *+Lift (m - w - f) *+Eat your macros(daily) *+Buy Groceries (Sa) *+Read 30 min (daily) *+Practice the Guitar 30 Min(daily) *+Study Video Editing 40 Min (daily) *+Cook (We, Sa) *+Do your daily points in duolingo To-Do are, well, things you must do. You can have a checklist within one To-Do. *()Fix the shelf *()Go to the post office and send the package *()Buy the ticket to the concert *()Pay the landlord *()Organize my trip to the moon *—()Get the rocket tickets *—()Get the reservation for the moon Hostel *—()Buy some moonars to have some local money *—()Buy a map of moon city Seeing the numbers go up (or health go down) is a weird sort of motivation. I can vouch for it. Give it a try, if you have no idea where to start, This is a good one. Fill your bad habits, put the to-do’s and take it from there. Meditation Meditation is a practice that, like a good diet, adequate sleep, and exercise, will help make everything else fall into place. It is a tool that will make your mind quieter, relieve anxiety, and reduce emotional reactivity. It is also very simple. Like everything else, different people will recommend different forms of meditation and quibble over which is best. All of this is much less important than picking a practice and sticking to it -- for the time being, just pick the one you dislike the least. ''' '''Basic meditation This method is an excellent place to start. It’s what most people mean when they say “Mindfulness meditation.” It will begin to focus your mind, and the principles here carry over to most forms of meditation. It is the basis of Vipassana. Steps # Sit comfortably # Take a few slow breaths, then close your eyes and mouth # Breathe through your nose as you normally would # Notice the sensation air makes against the inner rim of your nostrils as you inhale and exhale # Focus on this sensation # Each time you start thinking about something else, realize “I am meditating,” and focus on the breath sensation again # Repeat Success metric Many people think that the goal of meditation is to clear your mind, to think of nothing, to get totally relaxed and blissful. This is one result of meditation, but not the goal. ' '''The goal is to notice when your mind wanders. That’s what mindfulness is. If you sit down to meditate and get distracted every five seconds, that’s great. The first benefit of meditation is become aware of how chaotic and unfocused your thoughts are. Over time, your mind will become clearer and meditation more enjoyable. ' '''Tips # Where or how you sit during meditation doesn’t matter for now. A chair or the couch is fine. Laying down isn’t recommended only because you may get too relaxed and fall asleep. # Some people have trouble feeling the sensation of air against their nostrils at first. It’s okay to keep your awareness wider at first. Instead of focusing on the rim of your nostrils, you could focus on your entire nose and mouth area. Instead of focusing only on the sensation of breath,sit and pay attention to any sensation that happens in this area. Does your nose feel heavy? Do you have an itch? A tingle? Notice these things as they come up and go away. # Using guided meditation is great as a starting point, although a lot of them are obnoxious as fuck. The apps “Headspace” and “Calm” offer a few guided meditation sessions for free that are pretty good and unobtrusive. # Start with 5 or even 2 minutes, and work your way up to 20 or more. ''' # '''Meditation is best when done in small doses, consistently. You may notice results in as little as five days, or it might take a few weeks. Variation 1: Mantra meditation You might find it easier or more enjoyable to practice mantra meditation. This is the basis of Transcendental Meditation, and effective at creating positive feelings. ''' '''Steps # Decide on a mantra. Usually a meaningless phrase or positive affirmation works best. “Om,” is an example of a mantra. # Sit comfortably # Take a few slow breaths, then close your eyes and mouth # Breathe through your nose as you normally would # Begin repeating your mantra to yourself, out loud or just in your head # Each time you start thinking about something else, realize “I have stopped my mantra,” and begin it again # Repeat Success metric Many people think that the goal of meditation is to clear your mind, to think of nothing, to get totally relaxed and blissful. This is one result of meditation, but not the goal. ' '''The goal is to notice when your mind wanders. That is what mindfulness is. So, if you sit down to meditate and get distracted every five seconds, that’s great. The first benefit of meditation is become aware of how chaotic and unfocused your thoughts are. Over time, your mind will become clearer and meditation more enjoyable. ' '''Variation 2: Loving-kindness meditation This variation of meditation is corny, but effective. It’s especially helpful for people who struggle with feelings of anger or negative emotions towards others. Steps # Sit comfortably # Take a few slow breaths, then close your eyes and mouth # Breathe through your nose as you normally would # Think about the people in your life, starting with your closest loved ones # Think about all the positive things about them, how you wish them the best in life, how they are beings looking for happiness just like you. # Expand the circle outwards, either in this session or in subsequent sessions, until the circle includes your most hated enemies and beyond # Repeat Success metric Again, success is catching your mind wandering. Secondarily, by the time you stand up you should feel more peaceful and compassionate -- both in the moments immediately after stopping and eventually in general. Resources: Books * Mindfulness in Plain English * How to Meditate: A Beginner’s Guide to Peace Apps * Insight Timer * Calm * Headspace Finance To get started, you obviously need to get an income sorted, now, there are 2 main ways to make money, work for somebody else, or earn money yourself. Working for somebody else is self explanatory, you go out and get a job, busting your balls, normally for peanuts if you don't have a great career, and doing that day after day, year after year. Is this always a bad thing? No, most people start here in fact, it tends to be a good, at least consistent way to make money. People do it their whole lives, and that's up to them. BUT SHIT FINANCEBRAH, I DON'T WANT TO BE BUSTING MY BALLS TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE A LOAD OF MONEY, I hear you say. Earning money for yourself. Again, there are two ways to do this. Firstly, is ACTIVELY earning it, creating a business, that you work at and it provides you with profit, and PASSIVELY earning it, meaning you put money you already have to work. I can't possible cover off every single way to actively make money in 1 post, but if it interests you, look into it. You can start an online business while you already have a job, if you still want the security. You can start a side gig on the weekends, you can import and sell at markets or online.You can jack it all in, and start a physical business (please don't do that without serious thought) Actively earning money is one of the most rewarding things you can do, IMHO Earning online http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/24-easy-ways-make-money-the-internet.html Low start up cost businesses/part time http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/201588 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/50-side-businesses-you-can-start-on-your-own/ There are hundreds of articles out there, have a look, see what you think, and do your research BUT SHIT FINANCEBRAH, NOW I'M EARNING ALL THIS MONEY, WHAT DO I DO WITH IT, SHOULD I BUY A FERRARI? You save it, live within your means, don't go into high interest debt, keep your expenses as low as possible, the more you save, the more you can put to work, and the more you can earn without lifting a finger. Passively earning money. I like to call this putting your money to work for you, money you saved, investing it, and getting a return on it. I CAN MAKE MONEY WITHOUT WORKING FINANCEBRAH? ARE YOU FOR REAL. Yes. This is how most people become wealthy, saving money, and getting a big return on it. But how do you do that? Again, there are hundreds of ways. As a general rule, the higher the risk, the higher the reward. What you invest in depends on your investment strategy, including what return you want, and what risk you're willing to take. http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Investment-Plan Read it and create one, it should tie in to your long term goals. Again, too many different kind of investments to cover in one post, here is a good overview of them. http://www.investopedia.com/university/20_investments/ This is the risk order: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk%E2%80%93return_spectrum I personally prefer Real estate, forex trading, and stocks. There is so much information out there, I can just encourage you to read and learn as much as possible. See what suits your life and where you live. FINANCEBRAHS RULES ON HOW TO BE FINANCIALLY SMART * PAYING OFF HIGH INTEREST DEBT IS THE BEST FORM OF SAVING THERE IS, payday loans first,credit cards, ect. * NEVER GO INTO DEBT TO BUY THINGS THAT DEPRECIATE, IF YOU CAN MANAGE IT * LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS. THE BRAND NAME BAKED BEANS COME AFTER ALL THE HARD WORK * AVOID ALL LATE PENALITIES ON DEBT * BUDGET WISELY and the most important one. * TRY AND SAVE SOMETHING EVERY PAY PERIOD. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF ITS $1, SET A GOAL OF HOW MUCH YOU WANT TO SAVE AND FUCKING HIT IT, PUT IT INTO AN ACCOUNT TO BE USED ONLY FOR INVESTING.